Showing posts with label lacrosse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lacrosse. Show all posts

Swiss Lacrosse Part 4

Fast forward to the end of the season...


That team who started with their first ever victory this season in their 3rd game of the year ended up finishing 3-3 for the season, while showing massive improvements in stick, team and hustle. Their only loss, suffered after that first win against Basel was against Zurich, the reigning champions of this league (SLL) for the last 2 years running. This is actually only technically the 3rd season the Swiss Lacrosse League has been in existence so it's safe to say the powerhouse is Zurich.

The Herzogenbuchsee boys finished with an impressive dismantling of Fribourg 17-0, and another win against Bern 9-2 en route to their 3-3 finish on the season. Remember this is a team that didn't even think of winning more than maybe a game has come a long way, both on the field and off the field as you can really feel the chemistry starting to develop as the friendships get better and the skills hone in.

What once looked like just a bunch of guys has now started to turn into a hard-hitting, ground ball winning, fast team. They have had 4 games now under their belts and are hungry and awaiting the post season which is just around the corner. This will actually be the first post-season where they have a chance to play more than 1 game and out, and you can feel some of the excitement that is building up to the 1st playoff game that is scheduled against Bern.

Bern is probably one of the most hungry teams in the league that wants to beat the boys of Herzogenbuchsee, because Bern has been downed by the Herzogenbuchsee Iroquois team 3 times already in 2009. Once in league play and 2 times in a tournament where they squared off. The score for 2009 stands at H'buchsee 3 - Bern 0. The total goals for each team are H'buchsee 19 - Bern 7. With the closest of the games coming in a 3-1 victory for the Iroquois.

Either way it's setting to be a good first round match up where either team could walk off the field with their heads held high and their arms in the air as they are pretty evenly matched. Wish the team some luck, it's the next big test for the boys of H'buchsee.

Will be back to continue after the 1st playoff game...

[to be continued]

Posted in: , , , , , , , on Friday, September 25, 2009 at at 2:49 PM 1 comments  

Swiss Lacrosse Part 3

Down.....Set....... *whistle*


The first faceoff was a clean win for us, not a bad way to start. We moved the ball down the field and got everything settled down by working the ball around the outside perimeter. There was a comfortable feeling already taking over, even after the first minute and the guys seemed excited to be playing and even more so to deploy their newly acquired skills that they had learned over the previous 1.5 months.

A few more passes, a pick here and there and the game started to open up for us in the offensive zone. A few guys had some early open looks, but nothing found the back of the net. The confidence at this point was building and you could feel it, I mean even the 30 or so fans that turned up were started to get a bit excited. You could tell that the guys had raised the bar and the expectations of the team were somehow nothing less than a victory for this game against Basel. I don't think the guys wanted to settle for less...

A few more changes of possession happened, our defense stood tall, and then finally after about 9 minutes of play there was a quick play from up top to a down low cutter by the crease and the ball flew past the goalie, top right, for a quick 1-0 score. There was a big celebration on the field as this team wasn't really known for it's scoring capabilities prior to this game. (3 or 4 goals total the entire season up to this point)

Herzogenbuchsee seemed to get a huge lift from that first goal and it never seemed to let up. The next faceoff was a clean win again, in fact I don't think Basel had won a single one the whole day? Today wasn't about Basel, it was about the Iroquois H'buchsee boys showing themselves that they were better than what the 2 previous years had shown, and the score quickly showed it. After one quarter it was 4-0 in favor of the Iroquois. That was equal to their entire years total with all the other games combined.

The next 2 quarters went by extremely fast with only a few penalties from each side creating the stoppages. I just kept telling the guys to keep giving it 110%, don't stop, every ball is ours and we were going to make sure we didn't give them a chance to get back into the game. Perhaps it was a bit much to tell them to keep putting them in the net, but the guys earned the right in my eyes to show what they could do, to show what they had learned.

9-2 after 3 quarters, the guys could feel the upper hand that they had at this point. All they had to do keep up the same intensity and hang on for one more quarter and they would have their first victory of their clubs existence. A pretty good feat for a group of guys that just thought this sport looked cool a couple years earlier and decided one day to buy some sticks...
The last quarter was a good one and hard fought, but it was obvious what the outcome was going to be as Basel slowly got out-hustled to the ground balls and in turn watch their chances to win the game slip away.

*whistle* game over... end score 14-2 in favor of the home team. Happy faces all around, hugs, handshakes and a job well done.

Finally I felt a big relief and deep breath find it's way out of my lungs. The first test was over, but it was just the beginning...
(To be continued)

Posted in: , , , , , , , , , , on Thursday, September 10, 2009 at at 1:06 PM 5 comments  

Swiss Lacrosse Part 2

August 9th, 2009.


My first game with the team since I took over coaching Herzogenbuchsee Lacrosse in Switzerland. It was the first real test my boys were going up against since I had tried to teach them the basics of this sport and the basics of team play and camaraderie. It was the the first test for me as a trainer, the game had a whole bunch of meanings for me. I was filled with a whole bunch of different emotions as we took the field and started to warm up before the game. Technically we had been at the field for 3 hours already setting everything up, but now people were starting to show up and I was starting to feel the butterflies in my stomach and the anticipation growing from within.

Was a cool feeling overall and nothing like what I had previously felt before. I mean I had never been a "full-time coach" before. I had simply been a helper and an assistant, someone who could help teach but more or less be there to support the coaches wishes. So to me this day had a completely different feel, a feeling of a true reflections on what I had taught the boys over the last 1.5 months or so that we had to prepare for this game.

-I hoped everything I taught them sunk in?
-I hope they remembered everything and didn't let their own emotions get the best of them?
-How was this game going to turn out?

Lots of questions were going to be answered by the end of the day, that was for sure. I half wondered if the boys even knew how to win? I mean they had experienced 2 seasons worth of games without a single win. I mean, sure they had scored some goals, but mostly they had been slaughtered by the other teams in the league. Basically if you had a coach and could throw and catch the ball with a little bit of togetherness and understood some plays, then you could beat the Herzogenbuchsee Lacrosse team.

Either way there was nothing more I could do about it now, it was game day, they needed to do it on their own and win for themselves. Just had to apply some of the basics I taught them and they would be alright. Or so I hoped?

Basically the pregame warm up went well and the pre-game prep talk went like this below, however I had to say it in my half-German-half-Swiss slang that I had acquired as there was very few English speakers on the team...

I have a few goals for us guys:
1) Hustle, 110% always
2) Mentality, "Win every ground ball.."
3) Have some fun and play as team, watch each others backs.

And with those three points being said it was already time for the opening faceoffs...

...was I ready?

(To be continued...)

Posted in: , , , , , , , , , on Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at at 2:02 PM 6 comments  

Swiss Lacrosse part 1

Lacrosse: A sport that is relatively unknown in Switzerland, but is starting to grow at a rapid pace. A sport of high intensity, filled with big hits, fast shots and full body contact.

This sport is one that I started coaching about 4 months ago in Switzerland and one that I have loved every minute of. Picture this: A group of around 6-10 guys on a regular basis that are trying to throw this little round pellet around as fast as they can without any real indication of which way is actually correct and which way is not. Then enters this American who doesn’t really have much experience, just a little more than a year or so in the states playing Lacrosse, and decides that he wants to help these guys learn to play as a team and not 10 individuals trying to put the ball in the net themselves.

I was definitely not an expert at this sport, but I have a real passion and love for team sports and was fortunate enough to play many team sports growing up in high school and in college. Starting with hockey when I was only 3 years old, which I still play today, along with American football among other sports.

I have had a lot of chances to teach kids before, but never really a full on chance to coach a bunch of guys around the similar age of myself. I mean what could I teach people in America, especially people my same age? Well here it’s different; the concept of team sports isn’t explained as well to them. I see many Europeans as individuals before I see them as a team. The concepts are known, but they don’t practice them, and I know for experience that these are things you need to learn and re-learn to really understand them.

So that was my chance to teach these Swiss guys about Lacrosse. I was bound and determined to take this little Herzogenbuchsee Lacrosse team, which had never won a game before in their team history, and make something out of them. I mean just by looking around that first day I could see that there was talent in the room, but no leadership or any concept of what the word “team” really meant. I mean when you work together it’s amazing what you can accomplish.

To be continued……….

Posted in: , , , , , , , on Thursday, September 3, 2009 at at 9:19 AM 3 comments  

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)